A Shooting.

Eleven in the night. A violent fight.

In a neighborhood permeated with plight.

There are those who never were shown the way.

Their selfish path, in it they surely prey.

A car comes by and many bullets do pass.

After the shooting, the driver hits the gas.

The crowd shoots back. Police make the approach.

The people scatter like those fearing reproach.

At the squad car, someone begins to shoot.

Bravely the police give persistent pursuit.

A sixteen-year-old shoots backward as the chase rages.

The cop shoots back. He hits him while he engages.

The boy is hit. Staggers. Keeps on running.

Bullets back and forth, they keep on gunning.

The young man wobbles and then falls to the ground.

Now in the street where he lies, there is no sound.

An ambulance is called. They take the soul away.

Inside the cop hopes the boy will see another day.

At the hospital, soon they call code blue.

Quick to action goes the hospital crew.

They work hard. Then arrives a strong breath.

Heart beats strong. He is snatched from death.

In to ICU. There for a time, he lingers.

Every day he is attended by caring fingers.

He comes to with a foggy and hazy mind.

Notices a young nurse who seems very kind.

12 hours is her shift. Her duty is on the day.

She notices him conscious as she looks his way.

Greets him kindly. Tries to raise his morale.

While an officer outside keeps him in his corral.

Days go by. Encourages him with good things in life.

He is unaware that the cop who shot him, this is his wife.

She knows who he is, but now she will not say.

Trying to show his gang life into a new and better way.

Over the days he patiently listens to her speak.

She suggests to him that his future may not be bleak.

He confesses he has no family except the gang he is in.

His parents didn’t understand him and he has no kin.

Now he regrets shooting, trying to hurt anyone he can.

Sees now, how he was a coward and not a great man.

Imagines that the bullet may be a vaccine for his life.

She tells him “The cop that shot you. I am his wife”.

They reflect and talk together, each and every day.

“ He’s glad he didn’t kill you. In our prayers, you stay”.

She suggests in this circle, with him, God does have a plan.

To use this experience to gain knowledge and wisdom to span.

He heals enough to move him to a lower floor.

Now he thinks he will see this nurse no more,

The next day, in walks in a man in a shirt and tie.

For some reason, he looks like he is fighting a cry.

The man tells him that his wife knows him quite well.

“I shot you and wanted to meet you before the jail cell”.

“We want to help you with all that we can”.

“Somehow, maybe this is part of God’s plan”.

“ My wife tells me you want to come clean”.

“ You wish to abandon being cruel and mean”.

Shooter says, “It took all this for me to see”.

“I am thankful it seems, that you shot me”.

With the petition of the cop and a few on the force.

Also with the shooter showing much remorse.

Short sentence and probation was granted by the court.

Now has a job. With church and community support.

Through all this, his spirit and God he is accessing.

Seems that hollow point bullet was really a blessing.

Kasey Dann.